Enterprise Architecture and Emergence of Social Media

If your enterprise is predominantly a consumer goods enterprise, you would have noticed tectonic shifts in the marketing focus. Traditionally, the goods and services were promoted through the enterprise websites and advertisements; however today the added focus is on having a vibrant social media presence. Success stories of Intuit and McDonald add credence to this trend. Stories like how customer complaints that are tweeted gain immediate attention abound in the world of consumer goods. Digital media has enabled conversations and enterprises are eager at the possibility of hearing directly from the customers. The new mantras are: more listening than talking, formation of communities, word of mouth as the ultimate marketing vehicle, active monitoring of social media, identification of key advocates, etc. Internally, within enterprises, Yammer is a very popular tool for tweeting. That information systems that acquired distinct organizational flavor are now making ground for customer/human flavor is no more a fiction.

This trend of social media brings in challenges and opportunities to EA. EA aims to holistically understand business; recent attempts on extended enterprises tended to predominantly focus on “firms part of the value chain” of enterprise. Social media is a new plane of reality where customers influence the enterprise success in the marketplace. The notion of extended enterprises now need to embrace social presence. Any EA effort that does not take cognizance of emerging forces will invite greater risk in building overall understanding of enterprise and its operating environment. Earlier CRM efforts were focused on understanding individual customers; the need of the today is to understand the communities.